It's funny, but I had similar experiences with 1st edition AD&D Druids... until I read a Dragon Magazine article that deconstructed the class. (I don't remember the issue, but it was back in the 1980s) Back before the days of carefully planned builds and CharOp groups, someone took a good look at the 1e Druid and said, "My God, these guys are tough!" They could have 2HD animal companions at first level (courtesy of Animal Friendship and Speak with Animal spells); they had Faerie Fire and entangle which were VERY good back then, and they got 2nd level spells at 2nd character level, and THIRD level spells at THIRD LEVEL. Yes, third level Druids were rocking Protection from Fire and Cure Serious Wounds Spells, which Clerics couldn't get for three more levels. Plus Call Lightning at third, and that Knight-killer of a spell, Heat Metal, at 2nd level. All that, at an XP progression which eclipsed fighters by 3rd level and Clerics by 5th level.
By 12th level they were having to do the "trial by combat" thing, but to be honest most D&D campaigns I was ever aware of back then were over by 9th or 10th level, anyway.
In short, 1e Druids were the Mother Flippin' Bomb, yo.